The products of a learning experience for Sam Houston State
University computer science students will soon benefit those
not yet in college.

The computer science department donated 10 refurbished computers
built from discarded university equipment to the Livingston
and Shepherd school districts on Thursday (Dec. 11).

The computers were built by CS lecturer Li-Jen Yu Shannon’s
CST 138 class and members of the Sam Houston Association of
Computer Scientists.

“Ms. Shannon runs a course which involves the building
of computing equipment,” said Peter Cooper, chair of
the computer science department. “So rather than just
doing it as an academic exercise, what she and I talked about
was the idea of being able to take old equipment that the
university had discarded and sent back to Property (department)
and then refurbishing that equipment and allowing it to then
go out to other state agencies to support the work that they
do.”

The project, which was initiated at the beginning of the fall
semester, has resulted in six computers for LISD and four
for SISD.

“This is mostly old Sam Houston property, together with
a few components we had to buy to get them to work and some
other pieces that were donated by faculty around the department,”
Cooper said.
The project is a win-win experience for all those involved,
according to Cooper.

“It benefits us in the sense that it helps our students
learn,” Cooper said. “Most of that time (spent
working on the computers during the semester) was getting
the students to the point where they understood what they
were doing before they built these machines.

“It benefits the university because it gives us another
connection with the school districts, but it also benefits
the school districts because they can target their technology
funds to additional areas and not have to worry about these
particular machines,” he said.

About half of the computers were built by Shannon’s
class and the other half were built by the SHACS group.

This is just the first step in the project, according to Cooper.
The class will continue in the spring and the department has
several other school districts lined up as future recipients.

“Ms. Shannon contacted a number of school districts
around the area, most of whom responded,” he said. “These
are just simply the first two school districts out of a group
that are going to be receiving this equipment over the next
few semesters.”